Gymnastics superstar Simone Biles dropped out early in the team finals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The four-time Olympic champion from the USA broke off her participation on Tuesday after the first device.
The 24-year-old had previously received an unusually low rating of 13.766 points for her jump.
Then there was a discussion with her trainer.
She then left the hall with the American team doctor, to which she returned around ten minutes later with a bandage on her right leg. On the second device, the uneven bars, Biles was replaced by Jordan Chiles, who was listed as a substitute on the start list. The exceptional gymnast Biles should actually compete on all four machines.
At first it was unclear what exactly Biles was missing. According to information from ESPN, the gymnast of the century has suffered an injury to her right leg. Other US sources, however, immediately speculated with mental problems. However, there was initially no confirmation. After some time, the American association announced officially on Twitter: “Simone Biles left the team final for a medical reason. It is examined daily to obtain approval for future competitions. "
However, US Gymnastics did not give any details, which did not solve the mystery of Biles. During the competition on Tuesday evening at the Ariake Gymnastics Center, Biles was repeatedly hugged by her trainer. Her teammates also caressed her cheek. Already in the qualification last Sunday, Biles had not been able to meet the expectations placed in them. However, despite numerous blunders, she was the best of the four-way battle between floor, balance beam, jump and uneven bars.
On Monday, she complained about the enormous pressure on Instagram. The load on the shoulders of the 24-year-old is huge. At home these days nothing less than the repetition of her four Rio gold medals is expected from Biles. “It wasn't an easy day or my best, but I got through it. I truly feel like I have the burden of the world on my shoulders right now. I know I brush it off and make it look like the pressure doesn't affect me, but damn it, sometimes it's tough hahaha, ”she wrote after the unsuccessful qualification on Sunday.
Team coordinator Tom Forster formulated these enormous expectations unmistakably: “The preliminary round was a wake-up call, we have to learn from it. We urgently need to concentrate on correcting the mistakes. ”Biles' teammates were not without blunders either, but the addressee of the criticism was undoubtedly the first and foremost 1.42 meter short athlete.
And so the competition ended with a victory for the female athletes of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). They prevailed with 169.528 points ahead of the quartet from the USA (166.096), which missed their third Olympic victory in a row, and Great Britain (164.096). Russian gymnasts last won team gold with the Commonwealth of Independent States in Barcelona in 1992. The German team with Elisabeth Seitz, Kim Bui (both Stuttgart), Sarah Voss (Cologne) and Pauline Schäfer (Chemnitz) missed the medal round of the best eight in ninth place.